


A Cousinly Talk

by baranduin



Category: The Foundling - Georgette Heyer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-21
Updated: 2005-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1624958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baranduin/pseuds/baranduin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the night before Gilly is to leave Sale Park for his wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cousinly Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Written for widget

 

 

"Nervous, aren't you?" Gideon said as he watched Gilly's shot go wild and the billiard ball skitter about the table, finally coming to rest so very close to the pocket but not close enough. "No need to be shy about it with me, little one. Not after all we've been through together."

The scowl on Gilly's face when he straightened up told Gideon that the long, rather sharp cue in his young cousin's hand could do quite an amount of damage, thank you very much. That is, should Gilly decide to wield it in a less than amiable manner. And considering his normally placid temperament, it made the scowl that much more alarming. Truly. How pleasant for Gideon. He always did enjoy a cross Gilly, if for no other reason than the rarity of the occurrence.

But in for a penny, in for a pound. Since Gilly chose not to make his own retort, instead pulling at his cravat, running his finger around linen that was wound far too tightly about his neck (was that some new style Nettlebed tied it in, something that might sport a moniker such as the Bedlam Froth?), Gideon decided to press on. "I suppose my father has given you The Talk? And hopefully some time ago, not recently! You're not exactly a babe in the woods any longer though you may still resemble one on occasion."

"What?" Gilly swallowed hard and then raised his eyebrows, trying for nonchalance (and of course failing miserably, at least to Gideon's knowing gaze). "I'm sure I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. Out with it!"

Gideon grinned. How he would miss the carefree days when both he and Gilly were bachelors and at complete liberty to do as they pleased. Well, as free as they could be under his father's stern eye, which admittedly was not all that severe.

"I suspect you know perfectly well and are only bamming me, cousin," Gideon said in a mild tone but with a glint in his eye. "But seeing as tonight is your last night of freedom before the weight of wedded bliss descends on you forever, I shall be kind and spell it out." He approached the table and took the cue from Gilly's hand. "May I?"

"Of course. What's mine is yours, always has been."

"And always will be?" Gideon grinned again as he bent over the table and lined up his shot. He rammed it home, then straightened and, leaning against the table, let the cue slide back and forth in his hands. "In that case, I'd best share The Talk and in detail, since apparently my devoted father did not see fit to give it you, though I must say I'm more than a little surprised. He's always been so correct in all his care of you."

Gilly laughed. "Yes, yes ... and he was with that."

"Ah."

Gilly grimaced. "Gad, that was an awful talk. As though I was some sort of half-witted milksop who'd never been allowed to leave the nursery!"

"Oh, so you didn't need the information?"

Gilly had the good grace to blush a little. Not much, but Gideon detected a slightly heightened colour stain his cousin's cheeks. Of course he was on the watch for it. He was always on the lookout for Gilly's state of mind, his needs and desires, and never more so than tonight.

When Gilly did not respond, Gideon continued his chaffing. "Well, if you've put the theory into practice, you've done damned well to keep it from me." Gideon bit his lip instead of continuing on with, "... and that's damned vexing of you!" But of course he managed to hold his tongue.

Gilly laughed. How delightful it was to see Gideon a little discomfited. "And I suppose you think you know everything about me?"

Gideon shook his head and found himself speaking a bit more heatedly than he realized would erupt from his mouth before it happened. "Yes, as a matter of fact." Then he remembered the recent events with the finding of the foundling and spluttered on a bit. "At least in that arena ... for the most part, that is. You have become very devious, Adolphus, and I'm not sure I approve!" He squeezed the billiards cue with both hands, then swung it behind him and dropped it on the table. It clattered amongst the remaining balls.

Gilly walked right up to Gideon, tilting his head to stare into his cousin's somewhat belligerent face. "Surprise, then. Ha."

"All right, out with it. Where have you been acquiring this vast amatory experience? In the country? After my sainted mother and upright father go to bed? Sneaking out into the village ..." Gideon raised his hand and slapped his forehead dramatically. "Of course! The maids. You've been at the maids. Adolphus, I'd never have thought it! You rake. And you've always looked so innocent."

Gilly glowered, more than a little mutinously, and tilted his chin down, staring up at Gideon through his eyelashes. He swallowed hard. "You are an absolute rascal, and you know it. You know perfectly well that I've no experience to speak of other than having to listen to The Talk in a state of extreme and utter embarrassment." He snorted. "Though I do think Uncle Lionel was more horrified about the wretched business than I was. Can you imagine it, he stared at a point about a foot above my head the entire time he was declaiming his points?"

Gideon roared and placed one hand on Gilly's shoulder. It was a smallish shoulder, and certainly not overly muscled, but for all that it was a sturdy thing. He curved his hand around it and said, "Well then, perhaps there's still time enough to provide something in the way of a more practical introduction into the physical delights the world has to offer, hmm?"

"How?" Gilly asked, intrigued. "Tonight?"

"When else? After all you leave tomorrow for Bath and Harry's legal embrace." Gideon carefully squeezed Gilly's shoulder and pulled, just a little. He held his breath, for it seemed more than a little likely to him that Gilly might well shy at such a thing and bolt.

But Gilly did nothing of the sort. Instead, he stayed very still, looking up at Gideon, knowledge beginning to play across his mobile features and curve his mouth upward into a surprised smile.

Gideon murmured, "Not that I'm any sort of true substitute for your dearest one, but as they say ... hmmm ... any port in a storm?" He cleared his throat and lowered his head. "Just for the practice, eh, little one? Just between us? I must confess I've wanted to try this for quite some time now."

There was silence then, followed by the clicking of billiard balls, for Gilly responded enthusiastically to Gideon's kiss by pushing himself against his cousin's firm body with a rush sudden enough that it jostled the table. That rather encouraged Gideon to continue the kiss, to deepen it, to open to it with not just lips but questing tongue. It was several minutes before they drew back though it was just their heads that slid apart; their bodies somehow had become plastered to each other intimately enough for each to feel the erections that now swelled in their tight buckskin breeches.

"I suspect I could use some additional instruction," Gilly murmured, nipping Gideon's neck. "Surely you'll not leave me hanging here?"

"Oh, surely not. Wouldn't be cousinly of me, would it?"

"Certainly not. You know how I depend on you."

"But perhaps the billiard room is not the most discreet location for further lessons?" Gideon asked, feeling strangely weak about the knees. If he didn't know better, he'd think he'd got the ague all of a sudden!

Well, perhaps he had, in a fashion, for he certainly felt rather more feverish than he had when he embarked on this intimate conversation. Not that he minded. And Gilly kept a firm hand around his waist as they made their from the billiard room through the darkened halls and up the broad staircase of Sale Park for the completion of their mutual instruction on the night before Gilly was to leave his home. So Gideon was well taken care of in his feverish state, and Gilly received the lessons that he'd lacked, though perhaps they would not transfer with complete verisimilitude to his forthcoming matrimonial state.

Then again, there might be some time in the future, some quiet night in the country or in London when they might find themselves the only ones awake again.

 

 

 


End file.
